Obama Blamed Fox News for Political Woes

President Obama accused Fox News of hobbling his political success by repeatedly saying he's a Muslim, according to a new book on his administration. During a closed-door meeting with labor leaders in 2010, Obama said he was "losing white males" who watch Fox News and "hear Obama is a Muslim 24/7." This tidbit is one of many in Mother Jones reporter David Corn's new book, Showdown: The Inside Story of How Obama Fought Back Against Boehner, Cantor, and the Tea Party, Politico reports.

Also from Showdown:

• Obama criticized corporate execs for attacking him after the 2010 midterm elections. “I saved these guys when the economy was falling off a cliff,” Obama told an adviser. “Now I get nothing but their venom.”
• Obama, adviser David Plouffe, and other White House officials plotted a "secret strategy" in 2011: to not reveal any new deficit reduction plan and not challenge Republican cuts right away, to "draw the GOP into a trap."
• Obama was optimistic about his policies after the Dems were shelled in the 2010 midterms. Said David Axelrod: “We all looked at each other quizzically, ‘What does he see that we don’t?’” But Obama did win the START treaty ratification and helped expedite the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

For more from Corn's new book, see the full article. (More President Obama stories.)